Joseph Mullaney

Debt Collectors Reported Most by Consumers, FTC Says

For the last known year, 2010 was the worst year for consumers dealing with debt collection agencies. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), complaints about debt collectors are up 25% since 2008. There were about 104,000 complaints in 2008 and about 140,000 in 2010. All the while, debt collectors are aggressively lobbying Congress to [...]

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Debt Collectors Who Bilked Millions Sent to Prison

Two debt collectors were sentenced recently to 8 and 6-year prison terms for absconding with $2.7 million. Darrian Summers and Stefan Miller both of the former debt collection agency, Maxwell, Turner & Associates, received their prison terms after being convicted of fraud conspiracy or money laundering. The federal court ordered Miller and Summers to pay [...]

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Consumers Must File Credit Reporting Disputes with Credit Reporting Agencies, Appeals Court Reiterates

The Takeaway: Essentially, a consumer has no rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) unless he or she actually disputes an inaccurate credit report directly with the credit reporting agency. The Facts: A consumer sued a couple of creditors alleging they misreported her mortgage payments to Experian, Equifax, TransUnion, and Innovis, the four [...]

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Sex as Payment Demanded by Debt Collector

When a woman can’t pay her bills, she should offer her body as payment demands a debt collector. ABC-24 of Memphis, Tennessee reports that a debt collector would accept sex in exchange for paying a consumer debt. The victimized debtor, Mia Dodson, claims she has a telephone voicemail recorded by an employee of the [...]

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Debt Collector Arrested Pretending to Be a Sheriff

A debt collector looking to get a leg up in collections donned a sheriff’s uniform while collecting debts says a NBC-2 reporter in Fort Meyers, Florida. A Florida victim claimed in a police report that Angel Rosado arrived at his job wearing a deputy sheriff’s uniform and possessing a “warrant” for the victim’s arrest. [...]

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Federal Court Upholds Consumer’s Right to Pick His Court of Choice

The Takeaway: A consumer who carefully chooses to sue a debt collector in a friendlier local court should be able to prevent the removal of the lawsuit to a foreign federal court. The Facts: A consumer sued the debt collector NCO Financial Systems, Inc. (“NCO”) and a cable company in a local Delaware County [...]

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NCO Group’s Revenues Up in Down Economy

According to a recent press release, NCO Group, Inc. (“NCO”) reports greater revenue for the third quarter of 2011 as opposed to the same quarter one year prior. Earning about $304 million, NCO beat its 2010 same-quarter earnings of $292 million. The largest debt collection agency in the world continues to improve its income statement [...]

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Protecting Students From Credit Card Exploitation

In 2009 while the economy was still in a free fall, Congress actually tried to protect a consumer for a change. Rather than a usual kowtow to big monied interests, the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act was passed in response to consumer anger over irresponsible credit card company practices. Of particular concern [...]

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Tempted by Credit Card Offers in the Mail?

Each year, entire forests are cut down to make wood into paper only to stuff your mailbox full of credit card offers and solicitations. Not only are they wasteful and annoying, but they are designed to do one thing: entice you to apply for yet another credit card and get deeper into debt. All that [...]

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A Perspective on Hayt, Hayt & Landau

Hayt, Hayt & Landau, LLC is a New Jersey debt collection law firm with an office in Philadelphia. Despite many other sources on the internet claiming otherwise, its dunning letters and especially its lawsuits should be taken very seriously. It is a “real law firm” despite many erroneous websites claiming otherwise. The collection law firm [...]

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Discover Bank May Not Be Able to Sue PA Consumers Who Defaulted More than 3 Years Ago

Today, our client won a decisive FDCPA victory against Stock & Grimes, LLP and, indirectly, against Discover Bank. Our client alleged that Discover Bank through its debt collection law firm, Stock & Grimes, sued her in Pennsylvania after the expiration of Delaware’s 3-year statute of limitations. Her opponents predictably, and “not surprisingly” according the Court, [...]

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If You Can’t Beat ‘Em from Without, Beat ‘Em from Within

After President Obama passed her over as chief of the newly-created federal consumer protection bureau, Elizabeth Warren announced today that she formed an exploratory committee to run for the senate seat formerly held by Edward Kennedy. Her announcement reinvigorates the resolve of Consumer Rights Attorneys still smarting over Obama’s snub. For many, she was the [...]

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Midland Funding or Pressler & Pressler to Pay A Lot of Money

Our client came to us alleging that the junk debt collector Midland Funding, LLC and its debt collection law firm Pressler & Pressler, LLP violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). According to the federal lawsuit she eventually filed in New Jersey, she alleged that the debt collectors sued her for an alleged junk [...]

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President Disappoints by Passing Over Elizabeth Warren as Head of the New Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

According to CNN, President Obama will not appoint Elizabeth Warren as director of the new Dodd-Frank consumer protection agency disappointing consumer advocates across the nation. Instead, he is expected to nominate a former attorney general of Ohio, Richard Cordray. Graciously, Warren agreed that Cordray would be a committed champion of consumer causes, but many are [...]

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N.J. Federal Court Enters Judgment Against Collectcorp

Consumer Litigation Group successfully obtained a judgment on behalf of its consumer client against the debt collector Collectcorp Corporation of Phoenix, Arizona. The consumer’s Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) lawsuit against Collectcorp alleged that Collectcorp fraudulently withdrew money from the consumer’s bank account without authorization on a number of occasions. After the consumer filed [...]

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Consumer Sues Cawley & Bergmann, LLP for Violative Collection Calls

A New Jersey man sued Cawley & Bergmann, LLP, a New York debt collector, and he alleged it violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). His New Jersey federal court Complaint alleged that Cawley & Bergmann’s agents recorded numerous debt collection voicemails without disclosures required by the FDCPA. He is asking that the court [...]

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Nevada Law Firm Vohwinkel, Sullo & Associates, LLC Sticks its Nose into New Jersey; Consumer Bites It.

Vohwinkel, Sullo & Associates, LLC of Nevada on behalf of its client, Crown Financial Group, Inc. of Florida is alleged to have mailed a threatening debt collection letter to a New Jersey consumer according to a federal lawsuit she filed. She alleged that not only did the debt collection letter fail to comply with the [...]

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$32k Judgment Against Midland Funding, LLC

On April 11, 2011, the New Jersey federal court entered a judgment against Midland Funding, LLC pursuant to an agreement between the litigating parties. The judgment entered provides $4750.00 to a consumer for alleged violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and another $27,500.00 for the attorney’s fees and costs of the consumer. [...]

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Third Circuit Affirms the Protective Nature of the FDCPA

The Take-Away: A debt collector who communicates a misrepresentation of an amount owed on a consumer debt – though only to the consumer’s attorney – may still be liable under the FDCPA. Facts: Ms. Allen had a mortgage and when she neglected to make her final-month payment, the lender, LaSalle Bank, filed a foreclosure action [...]

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Asset Acceptance Alleged to Be Responsible for the Egregious Debt Collection Acts of PARC

A civilian defense contractor dependent on her continued security clearances was subjected to abusive debt collection by Premium Asset Recovery Corporation (PARC) and false credit reporting, a federal lawsuit alleges. PARC alleged the defense contractor owed a mistaken sum of money to a hospital that should have been paid by her employer’s workers compensation policy. [...]

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